Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Movie movement: Local theaters bet big on Rango

Every week, I gather in the movie times that wander around like wayward talkies, and I bring them home to our film section.

On Wednesdays, I'll try to pass along some news from the road — the comings and goings of national films as they move through local theaters. Please note these tidbits are valid for the upcoming film week, which begins Friday; in other words, if I write that a movie's dropping out of multiple theaters, you can probably still catch it today or tomorrow.

• Last week, local filmgoers could find The Eagle — a film our reviewer Scott Renshawcalled "a simplistic adventure that wants to be taken seriously, but never has the guts to stake out a point of view" — at every theater in town. This coming week? Nowhere. The movie (and its $25 million budget and $18 million domestic gross) are headed straight into the movie Never Never Land that exists locally between wide-release and exhibition at Picture Show.

• Local theaters are going big on Johnny Depp's upcoming animated film Rango. Tinseltown is betting the most, offering Rango in its XD theater — an IMAX knock-off with a $3 surcharge — plus normal screenings to the tune of 13 per day; Chapel Hills 15 and Cinemark 16 have the lizard scheduled for nine showings; and Hollywood Interquest is offering eight.

• The Rite has left Carmike 10, and No Strings Attached, The Roommate and Sanctum have left Tinseltown, meaning all four are headed to Picture Show in the coming weeks, joining The Eagle in Never Land in the meantime.

• Arriving at the dollar theater this upcoming week is Gwyneth Paltrow'sCountry Strong — which currently enjoys a 20 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes — and Walt Disney Animation Studios'Tangled.

• Leaving the dollar theater for a Best Buy near you are The Dilemma and Season of the Witch, the latter of which did nearly twice as well at the box office overseas as it did domestically.

• Lastly, Kimball's Peak Three is scheduled to ditch The Company Men and Barney's Version for thrice-daily screenings of Biutiful and Cedar Rapids. The theater is hanging onto The King's Speech — a film with a $15 million budget and a worldwide gross of $270 million — and which, of course, just won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at this year's Academy Awards.

In other Kimball's news, local blog Oinketycalled out the theater for its policy of not accepting credit cards, saying "it’s an insult to customers."

When reached by e-mail for comment, theater rep Matt Stevens offered only this: "Cash is king."